What Lies Within
by Plugging Up
Summary: Inuyasha's reaction to mating season pushes Kagome to her limit and she leaves. But this time...it's Naraku who finds her.


Chapter 1

The girl sighed deeply to show her frustration. The ever so stubborn half-demon she always traveled with was nothing short of unbearable. He was being his usual overprotective self and that in itself was enough to crack the hardest of stones. He had mentioned something about mating season and some such nonsense. His actions recently indicated that he wasn't too pleased about it and that he wasn't exactly willing to hang back and let some other demon male entice her. He claimed he was simply "protecting" her. But from what?! She was a human, they were all either demons or animals! Humans didn't have a particular mating season, although mid-fall to early winter seemed to be the time most women in this era fell pregnant and gave birth around late spring to early summer. It did seem like an ideal time of year for an infant to be born given the higher rations of crops and livestock. However, it didn't prove that winter was a "mating season" for humans.

To an overbearing Inuyasha, unfortunately, the ideal time of year for mating was now, when most female demons, if not all, were in heat and highly fertile. A demon's gestation was supposedly a mere three to four months. For the duration of this annual fall mating season, Inuyasha wasn't letting her slip through his fingers. Even when she chose to go back to her own time period, he wasn't far behind.

Amazingly enough, she'd actually heard him say that "her honor must be defended". She swore he forgot to add "at all costs", because the way he kept sentry was something unreal. He would turn his head back and forth every few seconds and that sensitive nose of his was undoubtedly working overtime. It was impossible to be oblivious to the way he would tense up and stare down a wild deer. Granted, none of the does bothered him, but the bucks were apparently worthy of his full attention. It seemed the only thing he didn't care about was the birds and smaller animals.

She was just waiting for Koga to show up. A fight to the death would be eminent at that point. While a wolf and a dog fought over territory made perfect sense since they were both territorial by nature, Inuyasha seemed to be intent on leading her further and further away from their wolf den. Normally he wouldn't do this sort of thing and would sooner take on Koga than be lenient enough to go around Koga's territory. Lately he had been avoiding all contact with any established demon territory. And if there didn't seem to be a good way around it, he would turn around and head sideways until it was clear that the territory's border had been respected and not overstepped. It was extremely unlike him in every aspect imaginable.

At first she merely pegged it as being edgy because of all the commotion and pheromones, which she knew he could detect by keen sense of smell. But it had been three weeks now and he was still as alert as ever. He still kept close to all the girls in the group, including Kilala, leaving Miroku out in the open and without as much protection.

The strangest thing was, Sango hadn't complained one bit and went out of her way to keep Kilala at her heels. She seemed to be comfortable being next to Inuyasha despite how absurd it was to go to such lengths. The only reason Kagome hadn't said anything yet was because she was still holding on to a thread of hope that his ridiculous behavior would end soon, and because Sango didn't mind her personal bubble being intruded. That was saying something since Inuyasha would stop every now and then to sniff her lower regions (which she would only allow for a tight period of time before crossing one leg over the other to shoo him off). He attempted to do the same with Kagome but she wasn't anywhere near as tolerating as Sango and had every reason to use the dreaded sit command. Kilala tucked her tail in and hissed at him before running behind Sango's feet.

One of the weirdest things was that no matter how many times she decided to let the ground give him a painful hug, he kept doing the same thing over and over again. She assumed it was related to this whole mating season business and was otherwise letting him off with a slap on the wrist, which he visibly ignored.

"Sango," the high school girl asked.

"Hm?"

"I'm on my last nerve with Inuyasha. What's his problem?" she whispered, doubting he would hear her when he was so focused on everything around him.

The demon slayer turned toward Kagome and replied, "His problem is a blessing in disguise. Sometimes male demons can get so hormonal that they'll attack anything female, even if it's not another demon. Having demon blood himself, Inuyasha knows this. Luckily for us all, he's also half human, which means he won't be attacking us. It may be hard for you to grasp since you've lived your entire life in a time where demons don't exist, but the combination of demon and human blood in one body is a good thing for humans during mating season. Inuyasha's demon hormones keep him on his toes for any danger while his human half prevents him from getting out of control."

"Why does he keep smelling us? And how can you possibly tolerate it?" she asked.

The slayer continued. "He does that to make sure we're not pregnant or haven't been attacked. He also does it to know when we are and aren't in heat. Believe it or not, it's an enormous relief for him if we're not in heat and haven't been attacked or impregnated. It assures him that he's doing his job right. That's why I can tolerate it."

"You aren't bothered at all by any of this?"

"It's instinctual for him. In your time, only dogs would sniff you, and that's more to identify you than check up on you. Dogs are pack animals and therefore they feel more comfortable traveling with other dogs. Dog demons are no different. He considers us his 'pack', so to speak, so the need to protect us is strong. The unfortunate gender problem is just something we'll have to deal with until mating season is over," she answered.

"Well, it explains why he never cares about the sit-" She cut herself off when she heard the ground crack. Looking to her side, she found a flattened halfbreed who had done nothing to deserve a slip-up like that. "Um. The 's-i-t' commands," she corrected.

Scowling and muttering something incomprehensible, he slowly got up and wiped the dirt off himself before stretching to pop his back.

"After all those sits, it's surprising he isn't dead yet," Miroku commented as he watched Inuyasha recover from the noticeable flinch he made at the word "sits". Turning to Kagome, having overheard her brief conversation with Sango, he said, "He'll burn out soon enough and when he does, you'll have a window of freedom. I would suggest using it wisely though. We all know how resilient Inuyasha can be."

And speaking of resilient, a now semi-strange occurrence was that Inuyasha seemed to care less about the jewel shards and more about his new job of guarding the ladies. It was amazing to her that his instincts were that much stronger than she ever would've thought. Hopefully Miroku was right; even half-demons had to sleep sometime. Freedom would be within her grasp once that time came. From the looks of things now, he should be falling asleep any day, possibly even tomorrow. Heck why wait! Maybe he would fall asleep tonight!

She recalled each time he hopped all the way up to the top of the nearest tree to keep watch while everyone else slept. Kilala, during a time when he had been a bit dazed from sleep deprivation, had managed to sneak off. No one knew what she had done all on her own out there, but the facts were, she was an adult, despite how small she may be. It was possible that a male demon, probably of her own species, had slipped under Inuyasha's radar and caught her attention. Sango hadn't worried about it at all. Even if Kilala had had fallen pregnant, which was something that couldn't be decided yet considering that this happened just a few days ago (which in turn caused Inuyasha to stave off exhaustion), Sango was well trained in how to raise demon cats of Kilala's species. The fact that their mother trusted Sango was a major plus, because the kittens would know not to fear Sango or anyone else Kilala trusted. Kagome knew the demon slayer would be more likely to detect a pregnancy from her loyal partner before Inuyasha could pick it up with his strong sense of smell.

Whatever the case, Kilala's possible liaison had left a certain halfbreed all the more wary. He'd never told anyone whether he smelled a different demon on her. He probably didn't get the chance to. She didn't seem very pleased with his behavior lately and avoided him when she could. The hissing, growling, and upright fur was proof of that. There were times where he would get too close and she would slash at him until he backed off, which never took very long.

If Kilala had a litter of kittens, Kagome would be the first to beg for one so Inuyasha would get off her back a little more.


End file.
